Each year, we will start with our favorite Maddy story: her love of bows. When Maddy was going through treatment, she lost her hair. Her sister, Hannah, wore a bow every day in her long, brown hair that seemed to grow and grow! And, every day Maddy was home, after clinic, getting chemo and other treatments, she would crawl up to Hannah and steal that bow out of her hair! What a sisterly thing to do.

One day, we noticed Maddy’s little piece of blonde hair sticking out in front of her head. We held out two bows: pink or purple. She pointed to the purple bow. In her curl, it clipped. Her face beamed. We learned that Maddy didn’t want to take Hannah’s bow; she wanted a bow in her hair. Each morning, she would pick the color bow to place in her growing curl. Even at the hospital, in the PICU, intubated, we put a new bow in her hair every day.

Nurses brought in special bows for Maddy. And she wore her rainbow bow every day. It was our favorite one.

Hannah would always rip her own bow out of her hair after she decided that it looked pretty good on Maddy. She refused to wear them.

The day after Maddy left our world, guess what the first thing Hannah wanted? She patted her head. She pointed to the pile of bows in our apartment. Clip. Hannah still has her “Maddy and Hannah” bow hanger in her room. And, we keep Maddy’s special bows there.

She remembers Maddy through the string that ties the bow together. Through a small little string with loops and a clip that holds back her hair.

That’s why our logo is a bow. It might start as a piece of string with two ends, but when you put them together, it creates an infinity loop that lasts forever - just like Maddy and Hannah’s bond.

We are excited to share our second year of 14 Days of Maddy!

During these next 14 days, we honor of our Maddy girl’s life and our amazing Madelyn James families.

This year, our goal is to:

1. Increase our monthly donors, our Bow Society, from $2,600 per month to $5,000 per month so we can continue to provide unique, long-term support. And continue to make our mission a reality. Thank you to our current members!

2. Share our stories and how the "power of the bow" shows up within our mission and in our community each day. Each day, you can forward the email to a friend who exemplifies the word of the day. 

$5,000 per month means we can say YES to:

🎀Paying a family's rent each month
🎀Paying a family's car payments each month
🎀Providing emotional support during long hospital stays and treatments: we understand and we can support families in a very unique way